Anger, frustration, sadness, heartbreak. The air in the theater felt heavy. It was as if you could feel the emotions of the audience dance around you from one side of the room to the other.

These were the powerful reactions from the crowd following the Institute for Contemporary Art’s recent screening of Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland. The second installment in their new Cinema Series, the documentary explores the mysterious death of the political activist, a 28-year-old African American woman who, after being arrested for a traffic violation in a small town in Texas in July 2015, was found hanging in her jail cell at the Waller County Jail just three days later.

The screening was organized by Enjoli Moon, the Adjunct Assistant Curator of Film at the ICA, and was accompanied by a panel discussion with members of Sandra Bland’s family, the family’s lawyer, Cannon Lambert, and one of the film’s directors, David Heilbroner.

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Bland’s death was ruled a suicide, but made national news and sparked protests and outrage from the public, disputing the cause of her death and alleged police brutality. Ten days after Sandra’s death, Heilbroner, along with fellow filmmaker Kate Davis, started working with the family’s legal team, following the two-year battle between Sandra’s family and Texas authorities. With permission from HBO, the event was one of few, if not the only, premature showings of the film, which won’t be released on HBO networks until the winter.

Photo By: Sarah Kerndt

At the film’s conclusion, we needed a moment to take it all in, and thankfully we were given one. Following the end of the film, Moon asked everyone to take a moment to themselves. Amidst the silence, you could hear the deep sighs, the shuffling of tissues, and noses sniffling, but the silence did not last long. Over my left shoulder came the voice of a woman who requested we all say Sandra Bland’s name. Her voice was commanding, but the pain she was feeling was not lost in her words. Moon led us as a group to say Sandra’s name together…”Sandra Bland.”

“’Say Her Name’, in it of itself is a declaration to make sure that women, especially women of color, who are victims of police brutality that their voices and their memories are not forgotten,” Moon told RVA Mag in an interview ahead of the film on why she choose to screen the documentary.

Photo By: Sarah Kerndt

After playing the wallflower journalist, quietly observing the activity during this screening, I can confidently say this film is going to shake the very foundation of how people respond to stories such as Sandra’s. To hear audience reactions in real time with the film, to bear witness the standing ovation Sandra’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal received upon her entry to the theater, and to be entangled in the call and response nature between the words Reed-Veal preached and the audience was both prevailing and agonizing.

This film cuts deep. In fact, the pain is so excruciating, Moon informed audience members at the start that several of the family members could not bear to watch the film. It was understandable. Sandra Bland’s self-titled internet series “Sandy Speaks,” where she provides personal anecdotes and opinions related to issues of injustice against black people, helped to guide us and unfold her story through her voice. Imagine witnessing a film containing such videos knowing the light and passion within your daughter or sister’s eyes was gone forever.

Photo By: Sarah Kerndt

The Q&A following the film proved to be the key that fit the lock, allowing people to air out the emotions building up inside of them. The tension in the room began to disintegrate as the family spoke and conveyed how they navigate their suffering. Reed-Veal’s attitude felt most contagious, the fire in her heart fueled by her continued search for justice burned bright, but paired nicely with her southern decorum and charming sense of humor. She was intent on making her points but was sure not to leave us without some good laughs.

Of the messages communicated to the audience during the Q&A following the film, the point driven home was, ‘Find your voice and then use it,’ in the words of Reed-Veal. If one message is clear throughout this film, it is the power of the individual voice. It was the power of Sandra Bland’s voice to speak out against injustice via social media, it is the power of her family’s voice to speak out against the injustice done to her, and it is the power of our voices to spread the word regarding this tragedy and encourage everyone to Say Her Name.

This film came to Richmond at an important time, when asked about the film’s relevance to our city, Moon had this to say: “When you look at the Sandra Bland Bill, and that having to do with mental health issues and how the police engage, when we look at Marcus Peters’ death that just happened, I think it makes it even more relevant in the Richmond story,” Moon said. “I think as Richmond continues to change as a city, we are becoming a more gentrified city and so with that we need to make sure that police value all lives and realize that all communities and people within those communities matter and all lives carry the same weight, and I think that in Richmond we have done a good job of that, and I hope that we continue to do so.”

The screening took place exactly three years after the initial arrest of Sandra Bland and will continue to tour until HBO’s release.

Launching today and running year-round, the ICA Cinema Series will offer free movies at the arts center’s auditorium once a month along with post-screening discussions with the filmmakers. Series film curator Enjoli Moon said all of the films in the summer series, Declaration of INDIEpendence, feature someone making some type of declaration.

“They {ICA} wanted to use the film program as an opportunity to really connect the community and bridge the gap between the institution, academic campus, and the actual Richmond community,” she said. Films will dive deep into subjects ranging from monuments, to the arrest and death of African American activist Sandra Bland, racism, to stories of local residents from all walks of life, with the aim of opening up much-needed discussions and dialogue.

For the premiere on Wed., June 13, the Cinema Series will open with “Richmond Speaks“, a short film showcase which highlights a selection of Richmonders who have made an impact on the city through community involvement, activism, or acts of kindness. The trio of films are made by local filmmakers and after the screenings, the filmmakers, along with the subjects, will talk about the need for spaces for individuals and the roles that institutions like the ICA play in the bigger picture.

The first film, “May It Be So”, will cover the ever-controversial and much-debated topic of the city’s monuments, but also show a side to Richmond history that these statues don’t tell. “Don’t Touch My Hair” will also premiere tonight, which presents the various forms of the black experience via metaphors of black hair expressions, as well as the role that Black women play in today’s social justice movements. Finally, viewers will get to see “Adrian’s Story” a short film about Richmonder Adrian Swearengen, a barber-in-training, who after years of incarceration finds his passion of cutting hair and offers free haircuts in the community for those who can’t afford to go to a shop.

Showing what the institution represents was important to Moon. The goal of the short-film showcase is to make sure that people from all over Richmond are represented, welcomed, and included.

“I wanted to start off with films that were focused on Richmond, really less for cinematic impact and more about laying the foundation,” said Moon.

The highly-anticipated HBO documentary, “Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland” was selected for the July 11 screening in the ICA’s Cinema Series. The film explores the 2015 death of Sandra Bland, an African American woman who, after being arrested during a traffic stop in Prarie View, Texas, was found hanged in her jail cell at the Waller County Jail three days later. Her death was ruled a suicide, but made national news and sparked protests and outrage from the public, disputing the cause of her death and alleged police brutality. The documentary, which is just two days shy of the three-year anniversary of her death, explores the mysterious case and what we can learn from it.

“’Say Her Name’, in it of itself is a declaration to make sure that women, especially women of color, who are victims of police brutality that their voices and their memories are not forgotten,” said Moon.

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This documentary holds a lot of weight on Moon as well. “I think it allows us the opportunity to acknowledge some of the work that America still has to do in regards to equity and its treatment of black people and it can be a catalyst for this conversation,” she said.

With permission from HBO, this event is one of few, if not the only, premature showings of the film, which won’t be released on HBO networks until the fall. Bland family members, lawyers, and the directors, Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, will hold a panel discussion following the screening.

On August 8, the ICA will premiere “The (Rebirth) of a Nation” by DJ Spooky, a remix of filmmaker D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation. Originally titled “The Clansman”, the silent film follows the relationship of two families in the Civil War and Reconstruction Era over several years, but sparked major controversy for its depiction of African Americans and its glorification of the Ku Klan Klan.

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Multimedia artist Paul Rucker will be part of this panel discussion. Rucker’s “Storm in the Time of Shelter” exhibit was featured in the opening of Declaration, and features a shocking collection of life-size figures wearing the full regalia of the Ku Klux Klan. Instead of the traditional white robes, the figures wear robes and hoods made of silk, satin, Ghanaian Kente cloth, and bold, patterned fabric. Moon said this event gives people an opportunity to ask questions and put his work into context as well.

Finally, in September, New York City-based collective New Negress Film Society, a group of black female filmmakers, will screen their works followed by a discussion.

The ongoing series will be presented every second Wednesday of the month at 6 PM. The movies are free, but the ICA requests that you RSVP.

Upon opening, VCU’s new Institute for Contemporary Art opened gave visitors several inspiring and thought-provoking exhibits such as Betty Tompkins’ paintings “WOMEN Words”, and Paul Rucker’s “Storm in the Time of Shelter”, featuring life-sized figures wearing the regalia of the Ku Klux Klan, but instead of white robes the figures were wearing silk Ghanaian Kente cloth. Along with that, the ICA introduced “Dirtscraper” a virtual reality game created by Brooklyn-based digital media artist Peter Burr and Oakland based video-game designer Porpentine.

The game takes the audience through various levels of the world including industry, and commerce, as you are led through a post-apocalyptic style world with protagonist, Aria, a janitor and caretaker working within the labyrinth. Having a love for dystopian-esque virtual reality games I decided to venture in and dive into this strange world.

Projected onto the walls of a small, black room, “Dirtscraper” looks to be just a very detailed experimental film in the aesthetic of Commodore 64. However, through the help of a small podium in the back center of the room, it allows the audience to control certain levels and aspects of the game as far as how far up or down, or left or right each level can go. Certain story mode screens add various important points of narration and dialogue to keep the story moving forward.

The work simulates an underground structure whose inhabitants move through spaces shaped by economies and class hierarchies — from mining zones to areas blazing with advertisements to luxury terraces adorned with sculpture.

“[Dirtscraper] is really speaking about the ways [us as a] society use gaming as an extension for the ways that we take control and power over societies through different mechanisms [such as] commerce, city planning,” said ICA Curator Amber Esseiva. “Visitors are allowed to navigate through this world going all the way from subterranean to the top of the narrative, but they don’t actually have control.”

Art, even as far back as we can remember, has always had an underlying responsibility to make its audience think and challenge their ideas. Given the current political and social climates, while they did not directly influence, the piece did encourage it.

Essevia said these are topics that both Burr and Porpentine were heavily involved and interested in, and given the current climate, the timing just felt right.

“It’s just very fitting for everyone right now, but I would say for someone like Porpentine, a trans artist, who has been dealing with things like this for a very long time before it became public discourse,” said Essevia. “They’re just two artists who have been committed in politics and topics everyone is involved in now but weren’t before.”

As it reflects the current dystopic mood of our society, it also invokes representation in its own way. Despite the fact that there is not an overall solid cast of characters or character development, there is building in the way of the one true character of the game; a cyborg named Aria End.

“[She] has been described as a cyborg woman with trans guts, who is kind of living in this world, but kind of totally controlled by the different AIs that are put into the game that control both inhabitants and this figure,” said Essevia. “One can think about what the relationship between a queer or trans body is in the world today and whatever measures or mechanisms are controlling those bodies and what those bodies want to be.”

While the conversations about this collaboration had begun prior to being contacted by the ICA, Burr and Porpentine did specifically work on this piece for the ICA and the museum’s current show, “Declaration”. Originally shown in Sundance as a film, Burr and Porpentine were looking for an institution to house the installation as they were hoping for it to be properly displayed. “As part of it being born in the world as an installation, that was something specific to the ICA,” Essevia said.

One of the important questions that this installation brings to the table is really how different would the experience be if it were not interactive.

“You would lose a lot. [The] idea of it being interactive while you not having any control in liberating these people or doing anything to their daily ant farm life is this whole metaphor,” said Essevia. “While you might have control to move up and down in this life, you don’t really have any control to change the narrative or circumstances for the figures which is metaphorical for so many things going on politically.”

While so many of the exhibits at the ICA at VCU right now are, of course, made to make you think and question things, “Dirtscraper” is the only one that makes you actually feel it.

“Dirtscraper” is open now at the ICA at VCU as part of their Declaration show running until Sept. 9.

Nidaa Badwan lived in isolation for some 20 months in a tiny room in occupied Gaza, under a bare bulb and a single window. After her first hundred days of exile, she began a photographic self-portrait series, titled “100 Days of Solitude.” Fresh from exhibits across Europe and New York City, she’s making her Virginia debut in Declaration, the opening exhibition for the groundbreaking of the Institute for Contemporary ArtApril 21.

Her exile began after harassment by Hamas militias, something she described as routine. “It happens with women who are ‘different’, who do not walk in the same line, to those who try to walk off the track,” she said. “But no one talks about this, because those who undergo it are ashamed.”

Originally printed in RVA #32 Spring 2018, you can check out the issue HERE or pick it up around Richmond now.

Badwan was initially placed under house arrest for eight days after a confrontation with Hamas at a youth arts program. She was told she would have to wear a face-covering veil and only travel with male relatives. Instead, she stayed in her room, where she found inspiration in the Gabriel García Márquez novel her work pays homage to, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

“The beauty of this book is that there is a city. Inside this city is a house; inside this house, there is a room. It looks a lot like my situation, or my room: Inside this house, inside this city, isolated from the world,” she said. “It is the same story of this city.” Macondo, the city of Marquez’s story, may not exist under that name, but for Badwan, it is real nonetheless.

The bold colors and strong play between light and shadow in each portrait, mixed with the partial obscurement of Badwan’s face, have drawn comparisons to Caravaggio paintings, surprising her. “I did not know Caravaggio until I finished this project and people in Italy started talking about the resemblance to him,” she said. “I went to see his paintings and I was shocked, as if I had been there with him when he was painting his works. I immediately sensed how he thought, what was going on inside his head…”

Her work is time intensive and painterly, both in the process and end result. She said her work takes time because she only uses natural light. “For every picture it takes almost a month because I study the light, the shadow, the position, all the details that want to put in the picture, to have a work like a painting,” she said.

Loneliness is a central theme in her work, something she describes as both universal and deeply personal. “Loneliness is a very personal thing, very special. Everyone can feel differently from the other,” she said, separating the theme of loneliness in her work from the political conditions of life in Gaza. “Under occupation, or without occupation. When you’re alone, you do not ask yourself what’s out there.”

The Institute for Contemporary Art is a fitting space to show this work, which was born out of seclusion and isolation. The spacious modernist building, designed by Steven Holl Architects of New York, is situated along Broad St. between Belvidere St. and Pine St., on the border of the neighborhood rebranded as the Richmond Arts District in 2012.

“It’s a public space, intended for conversation and bringing people together,” Chief Curator Stephanie Smith said when I met with her in February. “It’s been intentionally designed with windows and skylights to be porous and open. We want to be a convening place for conversations.”

That intention extends to the two entranceways. One door opens on Belvidere, the other on Pine. They’re equal in size and scale, Smith noted, saying, “There’s no front door here. We have a campus and a city entrance. The goal is to create a shared spaced between VCU and the city.”

The open design of the ICA, the way it connects two segments of the city, is a strong contrast to Badwan’s work. Her photos are tightly composed, almost cramped, and full with color, symbols, and meaning. They’ll be placed on open walls in an expansive room with soaring ceilings. Directly across from her solitary scenes will be a collaborative installation with fabric and thread, designed to bring strangers together in conversation.

Smith, a recent hire at the ICA, came to Richmond in 2016 after a prestigious career that’s included long stints as the chief curator of both the Art Gallery of Ontario and the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art. She described the recent staff turnover and construction delays as not unusual for such a large project, but was confident about the opening, saying, “It’s a short runway for an exhibition of this scale. It’s all really intense and really exciting.”

In addition to Badwan’s work, the non-collecting institution will open with a wide slate of works, including the anti-racist sculptural series REWIND by Paul Rucker, a citywide exhibit by Detroit-based printmaker Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., and a media installation by Peter Burr and Porpentine Charity Heartscape.

Smith described the variety of opening pieces as part of the mission of the institute, connecting local, national, and international artists all in one space from a variety of disciplines. “The exhibit is diverse in all the ways you can think about that, culturally, artistically,” she said.

Although many of the exhibits make strong statements, Smith said none of them had been chosen to fulfill a particular agenda, saying, “We’re a public institution. We don’t take a political stance in support of a particular policy or person, but we do take on ethical or moral stances.” Above all, she says they “stand behind freedom of expression and art,” which she describes as having a transformative power.

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Badwan’s work touches on many political topics, especially those relating to Israel and Palestine, but Smith described the work as political only in the lowercase-p sense, used to describe personal politics and the important choices individuals make in their lives. “She’s someone who was dealing with an intense situation and her response was to pull inside and imagine another world,” Smith said. “She chose to respond to [imprisonment] with art in a really disciplined way.”

Badwan expressed a similar sentiment when asked about political content in her work, describing it as, “Zero. In art, I like to talk about things that interest me. Politics do not interest me.” Although she describes her self-isolation as an act of political protest, she sees the art that came out of that period as transcending mere politics.

Even before Smith knew Badwan’s story, though, what first drew her to Badwan’s art was the power of the imagery, which she saw in 2016 in New York City. “The work is beautiful. She has an exquisite sense of space, color, and composition. Visitors who don’t know anything about the backstory can be drawn in just by the imagery.”

The work makes statements about gender and discrimination, most notably in a piece Badwan identified as the most important. It depicts her playing an oud, a lute common in the Middle East, to silence a hostile rooster. In one interview, she describes the rooster as symbolic of men, particularly in Arabic symbolism, and is blunt about the message, saying, “With my gesture, I invite the rooster to shut up and let me be free to express myself and my art.”

Despite the restrictions on her personal life imposed by Hamas, Badwan enjoyed a rich creative life inside her room, and she made plans to debut “100 Days of Solitude” in East Jerusalem. This too, was restricted, although this time by the Israeli authorities, who refused to let her exit the Gaza Strip to attend.

After her self-portraits gained attention in 2015, largely through her social media presence on the website 500px and an interview with a New York Times reporter, she was finally able to leave Gaza. Before she received her invitation, to Monte Grimano and Montecatini in Italy, she told the Times interviewer that her situation was dire, saying, “I’m ready to die in this room unless I find a better place.”

It’s a sentiment expressed on her 500px profile too, where her one-line biography reads, “Finding a Safe Place”, and in notes, she’s written about her self-portrait series, where she wrote, “In the first months of self-imprisonment I contemplated committing suicide.”

The invitation to Italy came via the diplomatic efforts of a Franciscan, Father Ibrahim Faltas, of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Since her arrival, she’s taught at the University of Design in San Marino, and exhibited new work in Denmark, Berlin, France, and the United States.

I asked her if Italy and Europe had proven to be that safe, or better, place. Her answer was conflicted. While she enjoys greater freedom in Italy, she also described a sense of loss.

“I feel like I’ve entered this game called “Solitude” and it’s like a video game,” she said. The move from Gaza was like successfully progressing through a video game only to encounter greater difficulty. “I passed the first level, I won, and now I move to the second level. The theme is different, but it is a higher level of the solitude I had inside my room.”

She still feels isolated, but within a new context, she explained. “In the first level I was locked inside my room, inside a closed city, and there I had my world. But now the opposite has happened. Now I have the whole world, free, all open, but I do not have a room. I do not have my room.”

Looking back at 2017, it was such a whirlwind politically for the country, as well as for Virginia and Richmond, that it’s easy to forget that our city has such a vibrant, thriving, and unbelievably diverse culture. From muralists and other artists, to emerging fashion trends, to the ever-burgeoning local craft beer scene, to becoming a top food destination, and a plethora of up and coming bands spanning multiple genres, this year RVA Mag has seen some of the coolest and most interesting people shape and transform our culture as a city.

As Editor-in-Chief, we cover so much on a daily basis and we cross paths with so many wonderful and talented people living right here it was hard for me to narrow down what summed up our year in arts and culture best. I think, with the help of the rest of the RVA Mag crew, we’ve put together a great list that really captured the stories that stood out the most to us. Enjoy and see you in the New Year!

Started by Manny Lemus and his college buddy Rene Franco in 2014 to give a platform for bands they met and liked, this local indie record label has produced some of the coolest acts to come out of Richmond in some time. Putting out tapes for shoegaze group Fat Spirit, an EP for lo-fi slacker rock band Lance Bangs, the debut album for indie-rockers Camp Howard, and Antiphons, its been exciting to follow them see who they discover in our little city. And the label isn’t just churning out tapes for local musicians and bands, Citrus City has worked with such bands as the London-based Teen Brains and Madrid’s Lois. If the acts they introduce to us in 2018, are anything close to what we saw in 2017, music fans are in for a treat.

in an effort to change media depictions of women as one-dimensional objects and one beauty standard, local artist Emily Herr started painting women in small murals all around Richmond in public spaces, on houses, and the sides of buildings. Back in the summer, Herr and her crew embarked on a “Girls! Girls! Girls!” tour, inspired by her original mural, to paint murals of as many real, everyday women as they could up the East Coast all the way to Burlington, Vermont.

It was so empowering to see a young artist giving women of all sizes, shapes, ethnicities, and ages a platform to feel beautiful and be represented in art on a large scale. Showing real women who aren’t a magazine’s or Hollywood’s stereotypical image of perfection made her a highlight for me to cover and with each mural, she’s changing not only the way the world views women, but the way we view ourselves one small step at a time and that made me super proud to cover for our magazine in a time when our political leaders, movie stars, and even our own president continue to disrespect and humiliate women.

Branching out a little from our normal restaurant coverage, RVA Mag got the chance to try out something a little weird and different back in June. Some of our staff visited Flora to eat one of their more interesting appetizers on their menu: grasshoppers. Chef Sergio Gomez, who has designed the menu after his hometown of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico, served up “Chapulines”, as they’re called, prepared with oil and spices and the crew washed it down with some fine mezcal. It was a weird day to say the least, but it was great to get out and try something new and unusual that Richmond has to offer. Probably won’t be the last weird food review you see on our site.

This story came to us from former staff contributor Caley Sturgill, and it was beyond fascinating. VCU ranked 7th earlier this year for its number of students seeking out sugar daddies to help offset the cost of tuition. SeekingArragement.com is a website that connects sugar babies and sugar daddies and Sturgill happened to know a former VCU sugar baby so we had to reach out and get the lowdown. Sturgill did a wonderful job diving into “Ava”’s story, how the website and relationships usually work, and a look at why so many female college students resort to seeking out this sort of relationship.

By far, one of the most mesmerizing and extensive exhibits this year and even to date to come to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was the Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China. Opening in November, the exhibit features 130 pieces of art including 10 life-style terracotta figures straight from Xi’an, the capital of the Shaanxi province in China.

Meant to capture the strength of the Qin Dynasty and the First Emperor of Unified China, Ying Zhen, better known as Qin Shihuang, the exhibit is a rare opportunity for Richmonders to learn about that history as well as see the sculptures that they would not have had the opportunity to see anywhere else unless they’ve traveled overseas. Terracotta will be on display at the VMFA until March 11.

Chef Mike Ledesma was definitely one of the movers and shakers of 2017. One of the hardest working chefs I’ve met, his story of how he came to Richmond and helped open some of the most successful restaurants around made it into our Fall 2017 print issue. Head Chef for Richmond Restaurant Group for a few years, Ledesma designed the menus and helped open The Daily Kitchen & Bar, The Hardshell at Bellgrade, Pearl Raw Bar, East Coast Provisions. He’s most recently moved to Kabana Rooftop as Executive Chef serving up his take on seasonal dishes. The busy chef is also behind the Passport Popup Series that takes place once a month at Belle & James and in the middle of all this, and creating menus for pop up beer and cider dinners, he’s been planning a solo restaurant venture, Perch, which will open in Scott’s Addition in the New Year.

As part of theHear My Voice exhibition at the VMFA, nationally recognized Native American artists were brought together to express the story of oppression by the United States government against their people. Through their art you can see the history and pride of the First People and the work of Virgil Ortiz touches on both the past and the future of Native American folk art. Having him within our pages of our Winter 2017 issue allowed us to understand the enormity of our past aggressions while contemplating his current work which addressed the struggle of his people today to keep their sacred lands and rituals from being wiped away completely. His is a fight to keep the very existence of the First People and one that Virginians should understand is not something in a far away land, but one happening in our own backyard.

Craft Beer Scene in 2017

Our craft beer scene has been exploding for the last few years now and Richmond is getting more and more recognition nationally and internationally as a top beer destination. This year, though, I think was the year for craft beer. We saw a surge in Scott’s Addition again, with Vasen Brewing and Twisted Ales, Goochland’s Lickinghole Creek expanded with its Goodwater Brewpub in Shockoe Bottom, Garden Grove rebranded as a brewery and winery, Powhatan got its first brewery with Fine Creek Brewing Company, Center of the Universe opened its sister brewery, Origin Beer lab, also in Ashland, and Henrico got another brewery with Intermission. Chesterfield’s Steam Beer Works also announced expansion plans for its Fan brewery, Canon & Draw. We also saw Charlottesville-based Champion Brewing expand with a brewery here. Established breweries like Strangeways Brewing expanded to Fredericksburg, Richmond staple Legend Brewing opened a location in Portsmouth, and Hardywood expanded with a Charlottesville and Goochland location which will open this month. Manchester is slated to get its own brewery with Dogtown Brewing next year along with Tabol Brewing, a first for Northside.

RVA Mag has closely followed the ever-growing scene, and its plans for 2018 for it are already overflowing if you will, and hopefully the bubble doesn’t burst anytime soon because we can’t get enough of all the different styles and varieties.

We can’t talk about the hot acts in the Richmond music scene in 2017 without mentioning McKinley Dixon. The young jazz/hip hop artist emerged onto the scene and picked up fans with his debut mixtape Who Taught You To Hate Yourself? And Dixon has played an important role in shaping the conversation in our current political climate with his music, which covers everything from racism, police brutality, and the struggles of the modern Black American. The artist already has another album in the works, The Importance of Self-Belief, which will focus on the perspectives of Black women and transgender individuals and based on his first mixtape and energetic, raw live performances, RVA Mag is expecting nothing but great things from Dixon.

The big white oddly-shaped modern building that towers over the streets at the corner of Broad and Belvidere is one residents saw under construction for months and anticipated its unveiling, which is slated for this April 21. The arts center and museum, designed by NYC-based Steven Holt Architects, will showcase a fresh slate of changing exhibitions, performances, films and special programs and features a large entry space, a café, a sculpture terrace, and an auditorium that can hold up to 240 people. For a city, that has become known for its art with its ever-growing mural scene, the Richmond Mural Project, top-ranking art university, all sorts of galleries, and up and coming artists providing Richmond with their talent that spans all mediums, the ICA will put Richmond on the map for art for anyone who already didn’t realize what a thriving and vibrant arts community we have.

Another band featured in one of our print mags, and one that RVA has been following almost since they started two years ago is eclectic indie rock group, Camp Howard. Songwriter Nic Perea and the rest of the gang sang their way into our hearts with the hazy, poppy “You’ve Been Misled”, the first single off their debut self-titled album, and have been captivating us with songs like “Llorando Y Furnando” and “She Doesn’t Mind” ever since. The four-piece gained prominence in the Richmond scene through house shows which led to them getting their first album recorded. After playing bigger shows with Egghunt Records acts Manatree and Avers, Camp Howard was able to land on the local label’s “Hatched” EP series, which would lead to them putting out their followup album Juice, their most creative yet, through Egghunt. Following this band’s success with two great albums under their belts and seeing their performances around this year has made them one of my favorite bands to watch this year and it leads me to believe that we are only going to see them blow up from here.

As one of the few nationally recognized artists out of the Norfolk area, Jason Levesque touched on the struggle to make it as an artist in a region not built to support their own artists. With few places to exhibit and a lack of financially supportive or able patrons, what choice do these artists have but to leave for greener pastures? The formation of Norfolk’s NEON District is a step in the right direction for future artists but for the ones that have spent over a decade building a following the options are few, so they have to leave.

This was such a compelling story that one of our former contributors, Nidhi Sharma, spent weeks working on and it’s an issue that’s only plaguing the nation, but an epidemic that’s steadily been on the rise right here in our own backyard. Sharma did a wonderful job telling the personal and devastating story of a young girl with an opioid addiction and her recovery. She also spoke with officials who run the Virginia Center for Addiction Medicine who informed RVA Mag that every three weeks, 3,000 people die in the US from an opioid overdose. The article delves deep into the history of why doctors began prescribing them, the tremendous increase the amount getting prescribed over the years, and a fascinating look at how the drug affects someone’s body, breaking it down scientifically. Sharma also discusses addiction and what policies and bills Virginia officials are introducing to help combat the crisis. It was heartbreaking and eye-opening at the same time to read about one drug having such a powerful hold on so many people.

The death this past July of local rap veteran The Honorable Sleaze was a huge blow for the hip hop scene in RVA. Always an incredibly active participant in the scene, Sleaze was also valuable for his constant presence at the center of the discourse around hip hop locally and beyond. He had a strong social media presence through which he acted as both a provocateur for discussions of controversial issues and a well-informed critic and fan. Even bigger than the hole he’s left in the world of local music is the hole he’s left in the local cultural conversation–not to mention the one he’s left in the hearts of everyone who knew him.

Our Editorial Director Landon Shroder delved into Richmond’s rich literary history in a great piece this year included in our new weekend section, “The Sunday Stroll”. He takes an in-depth look at Black Swan Books and the authors, poets, and characters who make up the shelves at the longtime local bookstore and why, in a digital world with ever-changing technology, its still important, more than ever, to remember and understand the perspectives of those who came before us.

Senatore’s work has been exhibited widely throughout Italy, Spain, London, Berlin and New York and now, the world-renowned artist is looking for unique ideas for her radio drama right here in Richmond.

The artist is famous for her tendency to involve entire communities and even cities to create art wherever she goes. She is also popular for her ability to work through different mediums of art for the sake of her storytelling. Her mission in Richmond is to tell stories that only true Richmonders can provide. — stories that highlight the past, present, and future of this River City.

Radio dramas, once commonly broadcast, use highly theatrical dialogue and music to tell stories about extraordinary, and ordinary, people and places. America’s most famous radio drama broadcast was Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, which actually convinced hundreds of listeners that a real invasion from Mars had taken place.

Senatore is here to bring that drama and that powerful passion back.Those with family legends and critical perspectives or anyone who has a great tale to tell are invited to share their stories.

Using local submissions to create the outline for Richmond: Symphony of A City, Senatore will work with a cross-section of Richmonders to develop the radio drama in 2018, which will be performed as part of Declaration, ICA’s inaugural exhibition which will run April 21 – September 9.

All are welcome to submit, and story ideas must be submitted to [email protected] by Dec. 10, with a maximum word limit of 500 words.